Arva Thomas is a Training Officer with Federal Student Aid (FSA). In her 20 plus years with FSA, she has held various positions working with students, schools, and federal, state, and local stakeholders. For 10 of those years, Arva was part of FSA’s Program Compliance team conducting program reviews, resolving deficient audits, processing recertifications, changes in ownership and mergers, and providing training and technical assistance to schools.
Now as a Training Officer, Arva presents live sessions, workshops and webinars including the Fundamentals of Federal Student Aid Administration, Applying for Recertification, and various other topics at regional conferences, and the popular new Wednesday Webinar series hosted by FSA. She also develops training materials and is the voice of many FSA Fundamentals Online lessons in the FSA Training Center. Arva has also been featured in the annual Federal Student Aid Training Conference, presenting the Program Review Essentials, Maintaining Institutional Eligibility, and Consumer Information and FSA Assessments sessions.
Training and public speaking are Arva’s professional passions. Her energetic and engaging style make her a sought-after speaker and trainer. She is also a former teacher with experience at both the secondary and postsecondary levels.
Arva is a Georgia native and resides north of Atlanta with her family. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, painting, travel, live theatre, and spending time with family and friends.